Record Breaking Jersey Shore Beach Sweep Finds Dentures Among Plastic

NEW JERSEY — Are you looking for your car keys, yearbook, dentures or air pods? Clean Ocean Action beach sweeps volunteers might have discovered them, as well as others, on New Jersey's beaches.

The beach sweeps take place twice a year, in the fall and spring. The spring 2022 date is April 9, and volunteers from 75 different locations in New Jersey will be there, said Emily Murray, the COA events coordinator.

Over the years, 157,863 volunteers have contributed 947,178 volunteer hours to remove and record debris from NJ’s beaches and waterways.

“Thanks to the new and improved data card, we were able to track new items for the first time, including personal protective equipment, dental floss picks, e-cigarette waste, and more. This is the first step toward identifying solutions to prevent these latest ‘ocean offenders’ from littering our beaches,” said Alison Jones, Watershed Program Manager.

During the 2021 fall beach sweep, a record number of 513,605 items were discovered, with plastic, including foam, accounting for 82.32 percent of the debris collected. Several plastic items set new records, including bottle caps, which reached 69,454 for the first time, according to the report.

Food and candy wrappers also reached a new high of 58,589, indicating a 16.55 percent increase over 2019. Plastic pieces fell to second place for the first time in nearly a decade, as plastic bottle caps jumped to first place.

On the plus side, plastic beverage bottles, cigar tips, glass fragments, and plastic store/shopping bags all fell in the rankings, implying that the prevalence of these littered items is decreasing.

The impending ban on single-use plastic bags and Styrofoam containers will only help.

Dubbed “Ocean Offenders” these items were first documented in 2021:

• Cotton swab sticks: 274
• Dental floss picks: 2,172
• Disposable wipes: 1,523
• Dog waste bags: 1,667
• E-cigarette cartridges/caps/pens: 3,686
• Plastic food takeout containers: 2,020
• Disposable face masks: 3,080
• Reusable face masks: 538
• Disposable gloves: 1,310

The data compiled demonstrates the need for strong policies and behavioral changes to reduce litter and wasteful practices.

For example, a COA report was used to help pass the New Jersey Recycled Content Act, which encourages recycling by creating a market for recycled materials such as plastic, along with the NJ Single-Use Plastic Waste Reduction Act.

The COA's next goal is to restrict balloon releases.

“Balloons may be pretty, festive, and fun, but when released outdoors, intentionally or not, they can become hazardous and even lethal,” said COA officials. Balloons pose one of the greatest risks to marine life due to ingestion, and they can become entangled in power lines, causing outages.

According to the 2021 report 5,234 balloons were collected on the beaches of New Jersey.

“If you want to change the world, people power is the answer,” said Cindy Zipf, Executive Director, Clean Ocean Action. “The Beach Sweeps is proof positive of that fact. We are grateful and inspired by the dedication and true-blue spirit of volunteers.”

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